Time Well-Spent

Have you ever sat down to prepare a talk, and then began to write and found that it was nearly writing itself?

That has not been my experience with this talk.  I don't know why I am laboring over it the way I am.  I stayed home again today....partly because of the talk, and partly because there are still some big projects that are nagging at me to get done....and August 29 is looming large.

I got the talk written in English.....it took me quite awhile to find the source of the story I wanted to use.  I wrote it out word for word, using scriptures and quotes that I researched.  That all took time.  I read quite a few conference talks looking for just the right quotes.  After a few hours work on it, I took a good friend's advice and plugged it into Google Translate, which spit out the Danish translation of what I had written.

It sounds good, doesn't it?  The truth is that the translation comes out with a semblance of Danish, but lacking a great deal.  I had to search through Danish Liahona's (Ensign) to get the quotes in proper Danish, and did the same with scriptures.  But for all that I had written myself, I was on my own.

I went through and edited it as well as I possibly could, and then handed it over to SK in the evening when he got home.  (Also good advice from our friend.)  He went at it with a red pen to the point that I was almost afraid to look at it.  But when I did, I could see they were good.  We are both tired now, so we will look at it again tomorrow.  But Sunday is right around the corner, so I will need to decided in the morning if I am going to go for it in Danish.

I was able to work on some other things, and I am grateful that I made some headway.  Each little bit means that as our release date gets closer, I am getting nearer to being prepared.  I really don't want to be trying to fulfill our mission responsibilities at the same time I am in panic mode about turning in reports, organizing the apartment for the people who will live here after we are gone, and getting the YSA stuff all together.

In the meantime, SK had a wonderful day with his sister Carolyn and niece Rori.  Today was the 2nd and 3rd castle on the agenda.  They traveled far north on our island to see Frederikborg's Castle to see the magnificent structure, the art collection (especially the 23 paintings of the life of Christ by Carl Bloch), and the gorgeous moat and grounds.  Then it was farther north to Hamlet's Castle to see the dungeons and battlements and more kingly collections.

They returned down the beach high way, which is a lovely drive.  Besides all of the beautiful forests, beaches, stately old homes and inviting parks, there is the Baltic Sea.....and it is wonderful.

When they got home, we all sat together and ate dinner, and then played Nines until none of us could stay awake any longer.  I think we laughed as much as we played cards.

I am grateful for this day, and for what I was able to accomplish, as well as time spent with loved ones.